Fugitive Ex-Official Found Dead in Armenian Consulate

Boris Avagyan, the former deputy head of the "Rosreestr" office in St. Petersburg and the former representative for special assignments of the Nagorno-Karabakh president, who fled from a court hearing, has, according to Russian law enforcement agencies, committed suicide on the territory of the Armenian consulate in St. Petersburg.

The incident occurred on September 23, after Avagyan, who is accused in the Russian Federation of evading customs duties in a large amount of about 4.2 billion rubles, left the courtroom. On that day, the court was supposed to consider the issue of choosing a measure of restraint against him, and the prosecutor's office had requested his arrest. While the judge was in the deliberation room, Avagyan managed to escape and hide.

It is noteworthy that Boris Avagyan had appeared in the courtroom accompanied by officers of the Military Police. It turns out that the criminal case against him had previously been suspended because he had signed a contract with the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation to participate in military operations in Ukraine. However, since Avagyan later refused his contractual obligations, the criminal case against him was reopened.

After fleeing the court on the same day, Boris Avagyan published a video. He stated that he was on the territory of the Armenian consulate in St. Petersburg. In the video, he demanded to be extradited to Armenia.

It should be noted that Boris Avagyan is also wanted in Armenia. He is accused of money laundering and illegal border crossing.